Keith was singing Keith Urban’s praises while he was Down Under promoting his own Australian shows. He was asked if he thinks Australian country music has automatically turned into American country music. (And that is not meant as a compliment.)

Keith admits he hasn’t been in Australia enough to know the culture. All he really has is his knowledge of Urban and the kind of music he’s been making since he moved to Nashville in the early 90s, right around the same time that Keith was debuting with “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.”

“I don’t know the music culture here, other than hanging out with Keith (Urban), but I know his love for American country music is probably what drove him to come and be part of it,” Keith told the Herald. “That’s part of it, but his love for country music exceeds everything else. If he does an interview, he knows who Glen Campbell (or) Steve Wariner is, he knows the guys who were before him: Johnny (Cash) and Willie (Nelson).”

If Urban is the exception, though, then Keith has some wise words for singers and songwriters making country music anywhere around the world.

“I think you should be proud of your heritage and where you come from if you’re gonna live here and be a citizen,” he said, adding that international musicians ought to have their own style and that “you shouldn’t just do what the U.S. does.”